


Good Company

by regenderate



Series: Good Company [1]
Category: A Series of Unfortunate Events (TV), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-30
Updated: 2018-05-30
Packaged: 2019-05-16 07:02:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14806598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/regenderate/pseuds/regenderate
Summary: “Has anyone ever told you you’re a little old fashioned?” Jenny asked.“I have heard that, yes,” Olivia said, suddenly very aware of her posture and the way her shirt was buttoned up to the neck.“It works for you,” Jenny said, and Olivia felt very warm.--Olivia Caliban is the librarian at Sunnydale High School. It soon becomes apparent to her that Sunnydale is not what it seems, and a lot of children need her help. Buffyverse Femslash Week Day 4: Crossover





	Good Company

Olivia went to Sunnydale, California, following an ad for a high school librarian. She interviewed over the phone and gotten the job, and then she packed up her things and got on a bus.

She arrived on a sweltering summer day, sweat running down her neck. She didn’t have much; she had always believed that it was best to live with as little as possible, in case one needed to make a quick escape. So she walked to her new apartment with a carry-on suitcase trailing behind her, her heels clicking on the pavement. 

She settled in, taking the time to make her place look like home before school started three days later. It was immediately apparent to Olivia that Sunnydale was odd, and Sunnydale High School even odder. She didn’t see anything directly, but she did read the paper every day (not that she trusted anything she read in the paper), and the number of deaths by strange neck wounds was truly staggering. Not only that, but the library had a shocking number of books about vampires, demons, and magic, and Olivia got the sense that most of them weren’t fiction. 

Maybe it was a good thing that students rarely used the library. 

On the first day of school, teachers brought their classrooms through, and Olivia showed them all how to find and check out books. On the second day of school, the library was occupied only by one girl, who came in during sixth period and asked, “Hi, I have a free period. Is it all right if I do my homework in here?”

Olivia smiled and ushered the girl in, and that was how she met Willow Rosenberg, the one student in the entire school who actually  _ used _ the library. Willow would stop in in the morning and check out a book to read during the day, and then she’d be back during sixth period to do homework, and then the next morning she’d be back to return the book she’d gotten the day before and check out another one. Sometimes, she brought her friends Xander and Jesse with her; they brought a lot of life to the ordinarily stuffy and boring library.

Otherwise, though, Olivia’s life was relatively solitary, and remained so for much of the year. The day things changed was the day the computer science teacher came into her library and leaned sideways against the front desk, her posture the exact opposite of Olivia’s, and said, “Hey, so, I’ve been thinking we ought to work together.”

“I’ve never had much to do with computers,” Olivia said, nervous. 

“You’ll love them,” the computer science teacher-- Ms. Calumny? Calendar? --assured her. “You work in information, right? They’ve got all the information a person could ask for. And I was thinking that we should scan our collection and add it to that trove.” She stuck out her hand. “I’m Jenny, by the way. Ms. Calendar was my father.”

“Olivia,” Olivia said. “And I make it my business to never oppose myself to knowledge. What do you have in mind?”

“I’ll just bring in a few scanners and a few computers,” she said, “and maybe a few students, and we’ll spend some time uploading all the books. It might give you something to do, all alone back here.”

“I’ve never minded being alone,” Olivia said.

“But wouldn’t your life be so much more fun with company?” Jenny asked, flashing a winning grin.

So Olivia agreed, and the next day Jenny brought in her scanners and her computers and her students. Olivia quickly got used to having them around, with their chatter and their keyboards clicking and their stacks of books that they always reshelved wrong.

It was a couple of days after that first encounter that things really started to change. 

The first change was unremarkable-- a new student came to Sunnydale High. Olivia didn’t think this was anything noteworthy, but gossip was flying all around the school. The new girl had burned down a gym, they said, or maybe it was a classroom building, or maybe it was the whole school. She had been expelled, apparently, or possibly run out of town. Olivia treated gossip like the newspaper, or tea leaves: useful to read, but she didn’t set too much store in it.

The girl herself seemed perfectly ordinary. She wandered in on her first day, just as Olivia was about to leave for lunch, and asked to borrow some textbooks. And then when Willow came in during sixth period, she came with the new girl in tow, and asked, “Ms. Caliban, have you met Buffy?”

“Earlier today,” Olivia said, smiling at Buffy. She disappeared into the stacks, reshelving the books that Jenny’s students had shelved wrong, but she kept her ears on the conversation in the library. 

It wasn’t until after school, when Jenny and her students came in, that Olivia heard about the dead boy who’d fallen out of a locker, two tiny holes in his neck. The students were talking about it, abuzz with speculation, and Jenny was trying to quell the rumors.

“We don’t know what happened,” she said, “but I’m sure Nick’s family would want us to give them some space, all right, Dave?”

Dave, who had been wondering what kind of fork left those marks, nodded and stopped talking. Olivia watched from her place at her desk, thinking that maybe it wasn’t a fork at all.

After all the kids had left, and as Jenny was packing up, Olivia came around the desk.

“There are vampires in this town,” she said, half-expecting Jenny to react with concern for Olivia’s mental state.

Instead, Jenny slung her bag onto her shoulder and said, “You noticed, huh?”

“It’s not exactly hard,” Olivia said. “What can I do to help?”

“We don’t help,” Jenny said. “We just hide.”

Olivia didn’t have a response to that.

The next day, Willow came in during sixth period again, Buffyless and morose. Olivia asked what was wrong, and Willow just shook her head. 

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” she said.

“I think I would,” Olivia said, sitting down across from Willow.

“I think Jesse’s been killed,” Willow said. 

Olivia gasped, putting one hand to her mouth.

“Was it a vampire?” she asked.

“I think so,” Willow said. “Buffy’s gone to find him, but I think Xander went with her, and he really shouldn’t be doing that.”

“Neither should she,” Olivia said. “They’re both much too young to be risking their lives like that. Where did they go?”

“I don’t know where they are now,” Willow said. “I think Buffy was going to go back to the mausoleum in Shady Hill Cemetery.”

“I’m going after them,” Olivia said. “Take care of yourself.”

“No, Ms. Caliban, you can’t!” Willow said. “You can’t go in alone.”

“I don’t plan on going alone,” Olivia told her, turning and walking out the door. 

She let her feet carry her to Jenny’s classroom. Class was in session, so Olivia knocked on the door. When Jenny opened it, Olivia asked, “Can I have a word?”

Jenny nodded and turned to her class.

“Class, I’m going to be out for a second. Review infinite loops and work on your programs, please.” 

She turned back around and stepped into the hallway, closing the door behind her.

“What’s up?” she asked Olivia.

“I’m afraid for the children,” Olivia said. “Do you know Xander Harris or Buffy Summers?”

“Willow’s friend Xander and new girl Buffy?” Jenny asked. “I’ve seen them around. Why?”

“Willow says they’ve gone looking for some vampires who have their friend.”

“They’ve gone  _ looking  _ for--” Jenny’s mouth hung open.

“Vampires, yes,” Olivia finished. “I was going to go after them, but I thought it would be best done with company.”

Jenny glanced back at the classroom door.

“Class ends in five minutes,” she said. “I’ll meet you by the door. Do you have any stakes?”

Ten minutes later, Olivia and Jenny were walking down the street, trying to think of some sort of small talk that was in any way appropriate to their situation.

“So, come here often?” Jenny asked.

“Not at all,” Olivia answered. “I just moved to Sunnydale, in fact, so I haven’t quite had time to go anywhere often.”

“Me, too,” Jenny admitted. “I stay in most nights. And days, when I’m not at the school.”

They were halfway to the cemetery when they saw two figures walking towards them. As the figures grew closer, Olivia saw Xander and Buffy, walking towards them, with twin looks of surprise on their faces.

“Ms. Calendar?” Xander asked.

“Ms. Caliban?” Buffy added. “What’s going on?”

“We’re coming to help you,” Olivia said.

“Did you really go after vampires all by yourself?” Jenny asked.

“You know about vampires  _ too _ ?” Buffy asked. “God. How hard  _ is  _ it to have a secret identity in this town?”

“They’re not exactly secret,” Jenny said. “People just don’t want to believe.”

“What’s this about a secret identity?” Olivia asked.

Buffy shook her head. 

“Never mind.”

“What possessed you two to go fight off vampires on your own?” Jenny asked.

“I have no earthly idea,” Xander said, shaking his head.

“How did you survive?” Olivia asked.

Buffy sighed.

“Okay, here’s the thing,” she said. “I’m going to tell you guys something, but you have to promise not to tell anyone else.”

“I promise,” Jenny said. 

“Me, too,” Olivia agreed.

“I’m the Slayer,” Buffy said. “I was chosen, and now I have all these superpowers that I’m supposed to use to fight off vampires. I tried to swear off Slaying forever, but now apparently I live in Vamp City, so I guess I have to fulfill my destiny, but you can’t tell  _ anyone _ .”

“Okay,” Olivia said. “But you shouldn’t have to work alone. Can we help you?”

Jenny shot Olivia a glance.

“We’re helping you,” she said. “No choice. And if you don’t let us, I’ll just start getting Willow to feed you information.”

“Quite right,” Olivia said. 

They all walked back to the library together-- Xander and Buffy wanted to talk to Willow, and Jenny had her students (including Willow) coming to help scan books. On the way, Buffy told Olivia and Jenny more about what had been happening lately.

“I think what we need is research,” she said.

“You’ve come to the right place,” Jenny said, and Olivia agreed.

Back at the library, Buffy and Xander drew Willow aside, and Olivia started pulling out books while Jenny did something at her computer. A few hours later, they had a good outline of what was going on, complete with ancient prophecies and everything, and they shared that with Buffy, Xander, and Willow in Olivia’s office, away from Jenny’s students.

Buffy sighed a massive sigh, and Olivia thought she could actually see the weight of the world on the girl’s shoulders. She reached out and patted one of said shoulders, trying to be comforting.

“We  _ will _ help you,” she said, a quiet fierceness in her voice. “We just need to know where these vampires are going to be.”

“The Bronze,” Xander said. “It’s just brimming with tasty little morsels.”

“The sun’s going to set soon,” Jenny said. “We should get going.”

“I just have to make a stop,” Buffy said.

“What for?” Willow asked.

“Supplies.” Buffy looked at Olivia and Jenny. “I’ll be at the Bronze at sunset.”

“We’ll be there,” Olivia said.

“Us, too,” Xander added.

Buffy looked from person to person. 

“You don’t have to do this,” she said. “I’m the one who was Chosen.”

“You don’t have to do this alone,” Olivia said. “We’re behind you.”

“Thanks.” Buffy stood up. “See you at sunset, then.”

She walked out, and Xander and Willow followed a moment later, leaving Jenny and Olivia to look at each other with worry.

“How did you become so good at research?” Olivia asked. “I can’t imagine being so good with a computer.”

“I’m a technopagan,” Jenny said. “I have contacts all over the world who I can ask for information in times like these. How did you become a librarian?”

“I answered an ad,” Olivia said, “although I sometimes think it was predestined.”

“I feel much the same way,” Jenny said. “You’re not going home between now and sunset, are you?”

“I don’t think I’d know what to do once I got there,” Olivia admitted.

“Want to grab dinner?” Jenny asked.

Olivia smiled.

“I would love to,” she said.

Neither Jenny nor Olivia actually knew where people in Sunnydale went to dinner, so they wound up in the first place they saw, which sold pizza, mostly. They got a booth in the corner, right next to an elementary school soccer team. 

“Gotta love kids after a big win,” Jenny said, as the kids in question darted around, chasing each other and yelling.

“I have often been able to find peace in even the most chaotic of times,” Olivia said, “in the presence of good company.”

Jenny smiled.

“Has anyone ever told you you’re a little old fashioned?” she asked.

“I have heard that, yes,” Olivia said, suddenly very aware of her posture and the way her shirt was buttoned up to the neck.

“It works for you,” Jenny said, and Olivia felt very warm. 

“We should get to the Bronze,” she said a little regretfully, glancing out the window at the sun, which was on the verge of setting.

“I guess we’ve got to save the world,” Jenny said. “What a drag, right? We’ll have to do this again sometime. Soccer team optional.”

“I would love nothing more,” Olivia answered, meaning every word.

They got to the Bronze just as Willow and Xander rolled up. A few minutes later, Buffy jogged up to them, and they were off.

After an impressive battle, in which Buffy took out pretty much every vampire in the place with her bare hands, the kids went home and Olivia and Jenny found themselves standing in the middle of the Bronze, trying to figure out what to do next.

“I’m not sure I’ll be able to sleep tonight,” Olivia finally admitted.

“Me, either,” Jenny agreed. “That was a lot.”

“It might be very forward of me to ask,” Olivia said, “but would you like to come to my apartment? I can make us tea, or something similarly soothing.”

“I think I’d like that a lot,” Jenny said, hooking her arm through Olivia’s. “I can drive.”

“And I don’t quite think I’m up for walking,” Olivia said, “so that works out very nicely.”

As they drove away from the Bronze, Olivia couldn’t help but wonder what she’d just gotten herself into.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm thinking of fleshing this out into an entire AU! I really want to write an actual Watcher (probably not Giles, because Giles is too nice for what I have in mind) coming in and being very confused at the fact that there's not really any need for them here. (Also Jenny WILL NOT die in season 2! She lives on forever!)


End file.
